The Phosboucraa Foundation is organizing the 1st International Urban Forum on “City of Challenges” on October 18 and 19, 2019, at the Palais des Congrès in Laayoune, on the theme of Eco-Technological Innovation.
The rapid transformation of cities and the resulting challenges require the attention of decision-makers, professionals, academics, and representatives of the business world in order to identify the issues facing tomorrow’s cities along with potential sustainable solutions.
Through this international forum, the Foundation aims to provide the Southern Provinces with a high-level platform to discuss new regional revitalization measures to meet the challenges cities face while combining technological innovation and the protection of unique features related to culture, environment, heritage, and landscapes.
The forum in Laayoune, Southern Morocco, will host 44 speakers from different backgrounds and over 15 countries, who will spend two days leading panels and roundtables on the concept of eco-technological cities, where technological innovations are in symbiosis with the protection of the ecosystem and sustainable development.
Discussion on this topic is particularly crucial for African cities. Africa is urbanizing at a very high rate, with unprecedented demographic growth. Its urban population doubled between 1995 and 2018, reaching 472 million people (40% of its population). This massive growth has profound implications for Africa’s development. The rate and extent of urbanization is changing not only the continent’s demographic profile, but also its economic, environmental, and social outcomes.
This urban growth phenomenon remains both a challenge and an opportunity for Africa. With massive population growth in a difficult social context, there is an opportunity to do things differently, especially since two thirds of the necessary infrastructure has not yet been built and there remains a range of possibilities.
This vision of urban planning for human development is part of the Phosboucraa Foundation’s unique approach to regional development. Its Foum El Oued technopole project, which will be presented at the forum alongside the Benguerir and Mazagan green city projects and other model international cities, will illustrate this dual approach that makes the technopole a model for innovative cities that respect human and natural diversity.
This first forum will end with a meeting of all participants, who will contribute to the foundations for an eco-technological city charter.